Jen’s Weblog

Last Tuesday I went for a follow up visit, and was feeling a tad anxious because I haven’t been feeling as though the vision in my left eye is as good as in my right. But of course, the left eye had the corneal abrasion, which I was told takes longer to heal, yada yada. Still, I had this sinking feeling that I was going to be one of those people who had to have an enhancement procedure, and I wasn’t thrilled about the idea. (Not so much for the actual procedure, mind you, but more because of the hassles of the after care!)

Sure enough, they tested me at 20/25. Not bad, considering, but not perfect. When Dr. K. looked at me he said that there was some inflammation in the left eye, and recommended I resume the Pred Forte drops I had been taking last (once an hour for a week). “Once an hour!?” I exclaimed? I had thought he had said once every TWO hours. No, he assured me. Did I not do them?

Well, I did once every TWO hours, at least until that last day when I felt so ill from the drops I had to stop. Between the rash I got, the feeling of just being generally nauseous, and the eyelashes falling out left and right (gasp!! I already have a spot from some unknown occurrence on the other eye where they never have come back), I made the executive decision to stop those drops a few doses shy on my last day. And now I found out I was taking them less than the time I should have?

After we talked for awhile, Dr. K. advised me not to do the drops, and that my general health was more important. Of course, he also said he’d never heard of those reactions before, and that there was no other substitution I could make for these Pred Forte drops. (I love that I’m such a delicate flower!  Not.) He said we’d talk about enhancement in April. Oh no!

So I go home and the next day I’m wondering whether it was the Pred Forte drops or the Zymar drops (which I had been taking at the same time) was the cause of my reaction. How did I know which one it was? I really didn’t. Maybe I should take the drops again and find out. But oops! I threw them away. Sigh. I called and asked Samantha if it was worth trying the drops 4x a day to start, to see if I was OK with it, and then increase the dose if so. After asking Dr. K., she told me no, he said not to do the drops. Sigh again.

I decided OK then fine, what can I do? I’ll ask my friend if she knows of any herbal remedies or foods good for eyes. (Kale apparently is very good.) I went to Arlington to dance. On my third song, someone led me in one of those head-duck-under-the-arm spins, and I didn’t clear my leader’s arm. Or, shirt. Which brushed up against the side of my face, and yes….the corner of my left (bad) eye. Immediately it starts to feel picky and watery and I’m starting to panic. Kevin ran out to Walgreen’s to get me some Refresh tears to see if that would help. After trying a few vials of drops, things were a bit better but not right. I couldn’t dance like this, so I had to leave. Total bummer.

I kept my eyes closed all the way home and told myself I wasn’t going to worry about this; I was going to take care of myself, go to sleep (without eye-related nightmares!) and call the Dr.’s office in the morning. I iced the side of my face and eye, put in my Refresh pm ointment, took an Advil PM, and went to bed. The next morning I called and made an appointment to go back on Thursday morning.

Since the original follow up appointment was Tuesday afternoon, and the smackage happened Tuesday night, by the time I got to my appointment Wednesday morning, my eye was back to feeling normal. But still, I figured it would be better to check, and I could ask Dr. K. about the drops again.

I’m very glad I decided to go in, because apparently the eye has 7 layers of cells, and my left eye now has 5. Dr. K. determined this by putting some stain on what looked like a piece of paper and then touching it to my eye. He then looked at me through the special machine. He clearly wasn’t happy. OK, so now I have to use Refresh PM ointment 4 times a day, including during the day, for 3 days. (I wrote it down this time.) And then, after the scratch is healed, I can try the Pred Forte drops, of course. Really?? I’m not sure what happened in translation here, but whatever.

One side note about the office: I mentioned that they are very efficient. Which is great, when everything is fine. When it is not fine, it isn’t too fun to feel like your doctor is trying so hard to rush out of the room while you’re still trying to confirm and write down the instructions. I also wasn’t thrilled when Samantha responded to my nightly halos question with, “two to three months, remember I told you!?” Seriously, the woman told me about 500 things while I had a Valium kicking in. And even so, why make me feel like an idiot for asking again? So I forgot. So you had to repeat yourself. Big deal. What I’m seeing now is it’s not all the best for attention to patients’ feelings.

So now it’s Monday. I did my Refresh PM for 3 days and had some naturally foggy sight during that time. Saturday my right eye was really dry (my guess is from overcompensating for my left being all wacky). But yesterday I started the Pred Forte 4 times a day, and apart from the nasty taste in the back of my throat for a few minutes after I do it, no problems. My eyes both feel good — today I even felt like my vision was clearer, although my now printed out eye chart didn’t confirm that feeling! And I happened to find another type of medication that is prescribed instead of Pred Forte, so I’ll have to ask what’s up with that.

Next appointment is in April, and I’m hoping to keep all items a safe distance from my eyes until then. I’ll also have to see how comfortable I feel with upping the dose of the Pred Forte. But, I think something is better than nothing, and I’m also doing visualizations to help my mind heal my body.

For those of you considering this procedure and being scared of it, you might be going “oh my God, that’s all terrible!”. But, I will say I can see so much better than before, drive without glasses, and really, I’m so grateful to have had only these small annoying problems! They are really still nothing given the benefit of what I got. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to 20/20 on my own. Or maybe I’ll need the enhancement. Only time will tell. Wish me luck!

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